The report published by Tagliabue, appointed by Goodell to oversee the players' second round of appeals, ran to 22 pages, but could be boiled down to the following: in his judgement, the bounty program was real, and three of the four players were indeed guilty of conduct detrimental to the league. But he believed the players' suspensions should be overturned, since the true blame lay with coaches and management.

"The present appeals are a small piece of a much larger picture. Senior Saints coaches conceived, encouraged and directed the Program … Saints coaches and managers led a deliberate, unprecedented and effective effort to obstruct the NFL's investigation into the Program and the alleged bounty. Commissioner Goodell found and properly characterized the Program, any bounty and the obstruction to be organizational misconduct by the New Orleans Saints."

Addressing the subject of individual player responsibility, he wrote:

"My affirmation of Commissioner Goodell's findings could certainly justify the issuance of fines. However, this entire case has been contaminated by the coaches and others in the Saints' organization."

If this was not the decision Goodell had been hoping for then it was hardly the worst outcome either. Although Tagliabue had overturned the players' suspensions, he had effectively justified the league for coming down so strongly on the Saints as a whole. Head coach Sean Payton's one-year suspension remains in place, as does the indefinite one handed down to the former defensive co-ordinator Gregg Williams.

Most importantly, it presented them with a way out of what had become a long and unedifying saga for all concerned. A statement released by the league reflected that position.

"... The decisions have made clear that the Saints operated a bounty program in violation of league rules for three years, that the program endangered player safety, and that the commissioner has the authority under the CBA to impose discipline for those actions as conduct detrimental to the league. Strong action was taken in this matter to protect player safety and ensure that bounties would be eliminated from football."

In reality, though, the story might not yet be at an end. The four accused players – Jonathan Vilma, Will Smith, Scott Fujita and Anthony Hargrove – were not made to serve any suspension before the appeals process had run its course, yet at least one remains extremely unhappy with the way that the case has been handled.

But if Vilma is unhappy with his treatment then the player with the most legitimate cause to feel aggrieved is his fellow linebacker Scott Fujita – now with the Cleveland Browns. He was the only member of the group to be cleared of all wrongdoing by Tagliabue.

If Fujita was the day's one clear winner, then it is hard to shake the sense that Goodell was its loser. Though his judgements were affirmed, this was a day on which his powers as commissioner were called into question. The severe punishments handed down in this case were supposed to serve notice to all 32 teams that the league was serious about player safety. Instead the takeaway for many observers will simply be that Goodell could not make them stick.

"To be clear: this case should not be considered a precedent for whether similar behaviour in the future merits player supensions or fines," wrote Tagliabue in his report. Yet it is inevitable that any player subjected to a similar punishment in future will ask themselves whether the evidence against them is really so compelling.